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Dragon Ascent
:An account of the meeting between and . Act I: Encounter "Beware... That place is a mystery. Souls who enter there... those who return, that is, don't tend to have positive tales to tell of it." The warning that the barkeep in the village over was still fresh in his mind, not that it bothered him much. All others would be terrified to enter a forest teeming with rumors as much as this particular one. But not . Ever since his unintentional entrance into this , nearly a year ago, he had dealt with strange and mysterious circumstances that were foreign even to the . Of course, he was put off by them at first, but never was he confronted with a situation he couldn't eventually find a way around. Hearing the rumors of this strange forest, filled with tall leafy trees and grassy knolls spread across the land, Seireitou wrote it off as the same as all those other incidents. But once he took a step onto the grass, a sense of unease crossed his thoughts; one he hadn't felt in quite a well, or... ever, from what he recollected. From afar, he could sense the forest teeming with life and spiritual power, but once he had actually took a step onto its plains, something strange occurred. His eyes widened for a brief moment as he tried to pinpoint the source of the unease, but all he could muster was an inconsistent chasm of power. It was like attempting to look into a gorge; he could see and feel the existences around him, but when he would try to look into the heart of the divide, all he could feel was an emptiness that he knew he would be lost in if he tried to go further. Taking a gulp from the strange sensation, he shook his head and his eyes narrowed once more with determination. "I must just be sleepy or something." he reconciled, stepping forward, further into the forest without fear; ignoring the continued presence of the unease that plagued him just recently. His eyes began to cringe, the strong sense of emptiness growing stronger as he began to find it harder to exactly pinpoint where it was that was causing his uneasy feeling. "Agh! Fuck this!" Utterly irritated by this, he picked up speed and started a dash straight through the path he was following, but started to slow down as he exited the tree-filled space and happened upon a broad clearing. Taking a moment to assess his position, he slowly began to make a couple steps further in toward the center, taking in a good look of the region. The clearing was a large meadow, flowers bloomed all around, even if he had in his haste missed them. Deer and other mammals darted about, completely heedless of Seireitou's presence, something made them feel safe. Safe enough to abandon their common instincts and run free and unrestrained about the meadow. The wind rustled in the leaves of the trees which so perfectly circled the meadow, it almost looked unreal. As if the trees had suddenly uprooted of their own accord to stand at attention for something, Such a thing would be impossible, alas, impossible anywhere other than here. For a moment every animal stopped dead in their tracks, not out of fear but out of reverence for something. Then it happened.. Before the Shinigami's very eyes the entire meadow seemed to come alive, as trees burst out of the ground across the clearing, growing to full maturity within seconds, he could literally see how the branches moved, and how lush crowns of green adorned the treetops. Each flower opened wide and suddenly became even more vibrant than before, each color intensfied, each petal glistened with dew and they stretched up as far as they could, all while he watched. The cause of this commotion would appear somewhere behind Seireitou, it was an old man clad in an extravagant robe of green silk that trailed far behind him like the veil of a bride. The fabric didn't disturb the ground where it touched, instead, it was more like it caressed every flower, weed or grass it fell. Trailing in front was a long white beard, perfectly smooth and adorned with small flowers. Although he carried himself with a sense of dignity and regality that would put any king to shame, he still walked with a cane, a gnarled oak cane tipped with a wonderful blue rose in full bloom. As he walked, another tree sprang up beside him, it grew a single large branch bearing a single large fruit, the branched leaned down to deposit the fruit, which glistened in the light and perfectly ripe, in the old mans hand. He smiled briefly at the tree as it retracted back into the ground, leaving not even a sapling where it once stood. Rather than eating it, the old man kept at his course towards Seireitou until he was right behind him. Extending the hand holding the fruit towards Seireitou, he spoke softly with a voice that seemed to echo softly across the meadow, "You look alarmed, my child.. maybe this will soothe your nerves" Already at his wit's end with what was happening around him, with trees bursting from the ground at a normal pace and maturing to adulthood right in front of him, the voice of the stranger behind him only caused Seireitou to grit his teeth and slide backwards just as he was turning to face the old man. How the hell did this old man get so close to him without triggering Seireitou's instincts? Ally or enemy, Seireitou had never had a problem sensing a person's intentions, or at the very least, picking up on them. As he stared at this elder with eyes widened and mouth agate, only to tense his facial muscles as he desperately tried to get a reading on this individual, his sense of unease from earlier only seemed to worsen. No, was this even unease? He could visibly register the stranger, the fact that it was a living being standing before him, and yet, it felt no different to him than when he first faced the trees upon entering the forest. Seireitou could not tell anything about this man, not even the slightest bit of spiritual presence, and yet he knew! He knew this man existed! He was standing right before him, after all. The very idea of this contradiction irritated him! But in the moment of his predicament, his eyes drifted down toward the fruit that the old stranger was offering him. Trying his best to regain some composure, he kept his gaze fixated upon the old man, no matter how anxious he made him feel. "...Sorry, my mother told me not to accept things from strangers. But never mind that. Who the hell are you? Are you the cause of all the freaky shit that other travelers in the past have felt when in this forest?" No matter how uncomfortable he felt, Seireitou knew he might need to engage in a conflict with this man, so he kept his body as prepared to move as possible. The old man didn't flinch at Seireitou's words, in fact, he seemed devoid of any reaction whatsoever, almost as though he hadn't heard what the impatient Shinigami said. Without answering he walked past Seireitou, his incredibly long robes trailing behind him, curling about him as if they attempted to cut off any exits for the Shinigami. After a few short paces, the man stopped abruptly as the exact same tree as before shot up from the ground anew, took the fruit from his hand and attached it to it's branch. Evidently, Seireitou was no longer deemed worthy of it's first fruit. The old man looked on as the tree once again retracted into the ground, speaking softly out into the open. "Shut ones eyes tight, or open ones arms wide. Either way.. one's a fool" He turned then, to face Seireitou before he slowly opened his eyes. Unlike the rest of the man, who appeared largely unimposing, his eyes burned with an intense intelligence, they were as green as emerald with slitted pupils. They gazed upon Seireitou, seemingly from somewhere eons away, like a father that looks upon his son and finds him a severe dissapointment. When he spoke again, his voice differed, it was soft still, but beneath the veneer of warmth lied steel. "This is their land.. my boy, do you always make demands when you are a guest in a foreign home?" Seireitou's eyes were trained on the elder the entire time, as he made his transition from in front of the silver-haired man to the tree where he presented the fruit once more. And once the old man spoke up once more, words that only incited the irritation already present, Seireitou crossed his arms in front of his person and turned partially to look upon the strange man. "You're the one sneaking up on people from behind. Where I come from, that's terribly rude. So too is it rude to conceal your presence, you old geezer." he retorted, his muscles stiffening as if he was ready to jump at the man. He was never one to actively seek harm on children or the elderly, so he tried to do his best in restraining himself; no matter how impatient he was, Seireitou was not a man that favored destruction. If he could prevent it, he wasn't looking to get into a fight. "...Are you here to tell me to turn back or something? This isn't a play at the theater, you bastard. Leave the cliches at home." he further commented. Seireitou might have been prone to holding himself back physically, but verbally, he was no such person. "It's said that the Golden Trees very first fruit is the tastiest... we offered it to you as a sign of hospitality. One would've thought that someone who'd risen to the top would feel confident enough to speak with an old man without this kind of aggression. Yet, our presence causes you distress, there's no shame in showing it, child." The old man took one step towards Seireitou before he abruptly stood right beside Seireitou, glancing at his face. There was no blurr, no indication of movement, nothing to indicate that he had moved at all, and before one might reasonably conceive of it, he stood at his side with the same relaxed pose as if he'd have stood there all along. "To someone like you who has so brazenly challenged his peers and repeatedly proven victorious, the very idea of nothingness is frightening. You rose to become one of them, Seireitou Shouin Kawahiru no Jirou. Yet here you stand, unable to sense a single old man, who in all truth has done nothing to conceal himself from you." The shock that came with the old man's words rattled Seireitou to his core once that name was spoken. "Seireitou Shouin Kawahiru no Jirou." The full name of the silver-haired man which had never been shared with anybody save for three close compatriots. Yet this strange man, already inciting unease in Seireitou, further inspired dread in the latter with each word he spoke. His breathing went short and his eyes quivered as he desperately tried to keep the old man within his line of sight. "That's..." he uttered with faint breath, staring eye to eye with this stranger, but almost like the ignition of a flame, his fear spun into a rage. "Who the hell are you?!" he shouted with sheer anger, taking a step back and preparing his body into a defensive stance. "Answer, now! Or I'll crush you, geezer!" "Do you fear me, my boy?" With that the old man literally shot up into the sky like a beacon, his arms outstretched gracefully as his obscenely long green robes fluttered behind him like the trail of a comet. Whirling around above the martial artist as the old man's voice could be heard from everywhere at once, booming like a thunderstorm. "You should" It was the tip of the robe that changed first, as it curled together to form a powerful tail that gradually extended up towards the old man as he flew, the tail grew thicker and thicker and two powerful legs ending in razor sharp claws appeared at the creatures hind and front, at last the old man vanished and was replaced with the the massive head of a dragon, it's horns dwarfed the crowns of kings and emperors, and along it's back ran a mane of the purest white. It's large green eyes then turned to look down upon Seireitou before it plummeted down towards him at great speeds, mouth agape. It changed direction just to his side as it's serpentine body formed a rapidly whirling column of green scales and limbs, encircling Seireitou and trapping him within a vortex composed of itself. The dragons coils permitted no exits from the vortex and as it spun, a great unnatural warmth began to spread through the Yonko's body. "Bastard!" he roared in the midst of the whirling forces encircling him as the old man assumed what could only be considered his true form. But the implications of that form was what truly shocked him. He looked like a dragon, but that was impossible, those are nothing but the stuff of folk-stories. Mere legends! "I knew there was something ab-!" But already his words were cut short as an abnormal sensation ran up his body. A pulse emanating from his core, his silver hair fluttered violently as he was having problems breathing, causing a numbness to run rampant all throughout his body. It was like losing consciousness, but he still felt awake, and could not see what was physically happening to his body. His clothes, mere scraps put together from scavenged articles of clothing he received months ago, were unchanged yet he could feel his body almost morphing. The kimono around him felt like it was growing in size, getting far more loose around his body, but in reality, it was he that was changing shape. His face scrunched together, his eyes narrowing and becoming almost beady, and white fur began to grow along his arms and bare legs. All the while, a bright light shined from his core, getting brighter as the transformation was close to completion. And just as suddenly as it came, the light vanished, leaving nothing behind but a small rabbit atop the clothes that dropped to the forest floor. Blinking briefly, the small rabbit slowly tried to stand on his hind legs, looking around with curiosity. But it was no random animal that had sat there. "What the hell is thiiiiis?!" roared a thought in the rabbit's head, who showed no actual change in its facial expression; not that it really could. The dragon shot up into the sky as it's majestic booming voice was heard resounding once more, it's weight almost threatening to crush the little animal. It's enormous body for a moment seeming to stretch across the entire sky. "You asked our name, we are Kachōfūgetsu. You've forgotten humility, boy, and dissapointed us. Should you survive one week in your current state we shall appear and free you of our spell. If not.. well, then your mortal master failed you. Live, and learn humility, or die and suffer the consequences of your vainglory!" The massive creature then streaked across the sky and vanished in a surge of white light.. leaving Seireitou to his own devices. Act II: Among Them Seireitou could only sit there, still retaining that of its intellectual mind, but the body of a mere white rabbit. The words spoken by the dragon who had just cursed him with this animal body had vanished, and with him, so too did any thought of how to escape this imprisonment. "A week, huh? Fine, I'll kick your ass in a week then, Kachō-whatever." At this point, it would be more accurate to call this man, Usagi-Sei, than anything else; an amalgamation of the word "rabbit" with a shortening of Seireitou's first name. The rabbit began hopping from the clearing and into the forest area. In his fragile and small state, he knew he would be desirable to many predators that likely lived in this forest, and therefore, had to seek shelter.